Bottom Line

I could go through all the possibilities and list all I've thought on this subject. But it really doesn't matter if there is a "God" or not. The bottom line is religion has nothing to offer me. I never found a point in Judaism at all. Christianity carries an implicit point to it, but makes no sense at all. I have not tried looking at all other religions because I feel no need to do so; I certainly don't suffer from any kind of spiritual void in my life, nor do I lack notions of what life is and what I should do with mine.

Had I lived in ancient times, I might feel differently. after all, science was all but non-existent outside of immediate, practical considerations like agriculture or engineering, and even then much of it was implicit. Religion had a practical urgency to day-to-day life. Relief or protection from draught, plagues, disease, disasters, pests, and so on could not be had by established, tested, empirical means, nor could the risks even be estimated.

Then, too, had I lived then, chances are I'd have been consumed with work every moment of the day just to keep myself alive.

Quote: Nareed

I never found a point in Judaism at all. Christianity carries an implicit point to it, but makes no sense at all.

The day Christianity makes sense to me
will be the day they haul me away in a
straight jacket. To believe it, you have to
first believe a whole string of off the wall
ideas, none of which I can even conceive
of.

You want a "Bottom line" ?

Just read my WoV signature, substitute 'religion' for 'superstition' and ignore the comical second line.

Quote: my WoV sig

Superstitions are silly, childish, irrational rituals, born out of fear of the unknown.
But how much does it cost to knock on wood?

I saw this somewhere?

"There will be no peace until the last Monarch is hung by the entrails of the last cleric"

Quote: petroglyph

I saw this somewhere?

"There will be no peace until the last Monarch is hung by the entrails of the last cleric"

It sounds like something from the French Revolution; anti-royalist, anti-clerical, and rather bloody and gruesome.

YAY! Finally the bottom line. One thing I've wondered about though, what's that long spoon about?

Quote: petroglyph

"There will be no peace until the last Monarch is hung by the entrails of the last cleric"

A hasty search attributes a similar quote to Diderot. Offhand I recall he was one of the philosophes who wielded some ideological influence on the people who went on to perpetrate the French Revolution. Other philosophes included Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu. But though I've recently finished Mike Duncan's eps on the FR, and heard a Great Courses lecture series on it, I don't recall what Diderot's position was, or when he passed away. Most philosophes were not alive to see the end result of their theories.

Quote: pew

YAY! Finally the bottom line. One thing I've wondered about though, what's that long spoon about?

I'm sure a certain Catholic priest who frequents this board knows....


But since he's not likely to explain, I will:

The saying goes: when you dine with the devil, use a long spoon.

The meaning is not to get too close to bad people, even if you sometimes have to deal with them. It used to get a lot of play in foreign policy news and analysis not too long ago. It was prominently and widely used in the run-up to the First Gulf War in 1990-91, vis-à-vis America's relations with Iraq in the 1980s.

This contradicts another saying, which advises "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

Quote: pew

YAY! Finally the bottom line. One thing I've wondered about though, what's that long spoon about?

It's about dining with the enemy and
staying as far away from them as
possible by using a long spoon. It was
originally about dining with the devil,
but it can mean any enemy.

There's another expression about not touching something even with a 10-foot pole. A related one I can't find, but I'm sure I heard or read once, which mentions a 20-foot something for when a 10-foot pole won't do. I forget what the something is.